More recent work:
The top of the Tower. This post discusses who I decided who was in charge of this Tower. I assume no one cares about spoilers, but if so, I'd stop reading now.
The top of the Tower widens a bit, and is topped with a translucent dome. It is a huge labyrinth (not maze) with one track in and one track out. The walls of the labyrinth are actually giant tall buyildings. Height of buildings not yet calculated! The buildings are different styles, and there is one main road/thoroughfare that's the path of the labyrinth. Are there ways to short cut through the buildings? Maybe!
Living in the buildings are two cultures - the Owlin Parliament and the Regnis Moot.
The Moot are humans who were once the thralls/slaves of the Phaerimm who have been released from their mind control, but not knowing anything or anyone else, they have settled throughout this hex in the lower 5 floors of the buildings. The Moot is made up of 19 tribes of roughly 30-50 members each
The Parliament is made up of 9 tribes of roughly 50-70 people each (total of around ~500 Owlin here) who live in the upper 5 floors of various buildings. There's a no-person zone of around 10 floors between the humans and the owlin. Is there tension? Who knows?
In the center of the labyrinth is a huge domed structure, the Apogee Court. There are tall walls (50 feet/16m) high, above which is a translucent dome. It now appears mostly dark and quiet, with vegetation growing up against the dome. Every once in a while if one stares long enough, you can see movement. The Apogee Court is also the name for this faction of Phaerimm who brought this Tower here to this plane. Other Phaerimm in competition with this one are the Exalted Court, the Ascendant Court, etc etc
The purpose of this tower was to harvest subtly the psychic energy of everyone in the Tower while at the same time building a gateway to the land of the Gods; to enter the land of the Gods and subvert them to the Phaerimm's will. While this may seem quite audacious, in the past they had subverted so many powerful beings, it seemed the next likely step. They called the gateway the Apex Portal.
However, sometimes even very powerful cultures can overstep their abilities. In this case, the Apex Portal pierced the land of... (I created a table, then rolled on it - I rolled a 9, and still need a #10)
- Demon Incursion
- Elder Gods - Cthulhu-esque
- Mind Flayer War - Elder Brains x 10, plus all that entails
- Exiled Infernal Court (Malebolgia? Hag Queen?)
- Far Future human techno-arcane warrior caste
- Angelic Host
- Dragons - the Chromatic Union
- Modron March
- Lich Queen's Horde
- ????
I call them
The Arrayed Forces of the Consort of Death. Whoops, sorry Phaerimm (not sorry)
So anyway, from here on out it'll be a bunch of undead and Phaerimm in battle posture. An enterprising PC party could find some way to perhaps play each group off each other?
Anyway, the flower petal zone is called the "Zenith Demesne" and is the outer gardens. I'm in the middle of detailing that now, and will share in a future post, I hope.